Lake Placid ices Hornets in OT

January 8, 2014

LAKE PLACID - Shane McNierney scored 1:01 into overtime on home ice Tuesday to lift Lake Placid to a 3-2 victory over Plattsburgh in Champlain Valley Athletic Conference action at the Olympic Center.

In an evenly played game, the Blue Bombers jumped ahead twice during regulation only to have the Hornets battle back to forge ties. Each team scored once in the first and third periods. McNierney then sent home the game-winner when he fired a rebound into the net past Plattsburgh goalie Dean Dashnaw.

With the win, the Blue Bombers kept their strong start to the season going, improving to 3-0 in the CVAC and 8-1 overall. Plattsburgh fell to 1-2 in the league and 6-4 overall with the loss.

Article Photos

Lake Placid’s Shane McNierney, left, and Plattsburgh’s John Fine-Lease (10) and Ryan Whalen follow the flight of an airborne puck during Tuesday’s game at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid.(Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Blue Bombers’ Elias Smith and Chris Williams (24) skate after a puck in front of Plattsburgh’s Devin Clark during Tuesday’s game at the Olympic Center.(Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

"We knew this game was going to be close," Lake Placid head coach Keith Clark said. "I think in the last two years, all our games with Plattsburgh have been decided by a goal or two. Tonight, both teams played smart and there weren't a lot of breakdowns on the part of either team. I like how we dug down deep in the end and came out with a big win."

Chris Williams lifted Lake Placid to a 1-0 lead when he scored just 59 seconds into the game with Nzoni Thompson assisting. The Hornets then tied it less than three minutes later on a goal by Andrew Bechard with assists going to Ryan Whalen and John Fine-Lease.

After a scoreless second period, Thompson scored unassisted at the 5:50 mark of the third to give the Blue Bombers a 2-1 edge. On the play, Thompson picked up the puck near center ice, skated into the Hornets zone along the left boards, drove toward the net and beat Dashnaw on a shot from the short side.

Plattsburgh came back quickly to tie when captain Jake Tolosky knocked a puck past Lake Placid goalie Tucker Angelopolous for a power-play score at the 7:29 mark of the third. Assists on the play went to Bechard and Fine-Lease.

Tolosky nearly won the game for the Hornets when he skated into the Blue Bombers' zone along the left boards and ripped a slapshot at the net with 15 seconds left in regulation. Angelopolous, however, made what turned out to be the biggest save of the game, snapping up the puck with his glove to force overtime.

McNierney's game-winner, which was his fourth goal of the season, came after teammate Connor Preston fired a shot from the point. Dashnaw made the save on Preston's attempt, but the rebound went right to McNierney, who one-timed the puck into the net for his fourth goal of the season.

"Their goalie got his pad on it, but fortunately I was in the right spot," said McNierney, a Blue Bombers senior co-captain. "Personally, it was nice getting a goal like that because I've been in a slump since early in the season. I'm glad I could get a big goal for the team.

"We're off to a really good start, and we're doing it as a team," McNierney said. "We don't have those one or two guys who are scoring a lot of goals. We're getting goals from a lot of players. When guys are struggling, other guys are picking it up."

Although Plattsburgh pushed a deeper Lake Placid team into overtime, assistant coach Russ Holland said the result was a disappointment for the Hornets.

"This was a really tough game to lose," Holland said. "I don't think we came out ready to play, and we were lackadaisical at times. But I have to give Lake Placid a lot of credit. They battled for all three periods and they played hard on every shift."

Lake Placid held a 24-16 edge in shots on goal in a game that saw both netmiders turn in solid performances. The Blue Bombers recorded the only two shots in overtime, which both came on the play that led to the winning goal.

Angelopolous made 14 saves in goal to earn the win and Dashnaw recorded 21 stops in a losing effort in net.

The Blue Bombers will next be on a road Friday for a non-league game at Shaker-Colonie.